44 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020 INSECURITY: We 'll resort to self-defence if... – EK Clark ELDER Statesman, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, 92, has intimidating credentials. He is a teacher, lawyer, administrator, Ijaw National leader, nationalist, leader of the South South Peoples Assembly, SSPA, South and Middle belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF. He was Commissioner for Education, Mid-Western Region, 1968-71; Commissioner for Finance and Establishment, defunct Bendel State, 1972-75; Federal Commissioner for Information, 1975; and Senator, 1979-83. In this interview, the Kiagbodo, Delta State -born leader bares his mind on the killings in Delta State, establishment of Amotekun, the Constitution review by the Senate, Amnesty Bill for Ex- Boko Haram insurgents, security challenges in the country, and other salient national issues. By Henry Umoru, Assistant Politics Editor What is your take on the recent killings in Uwheru, Ughelli North and the exhuming of eight corpses? The news of the killings did not come to me as a surprise because I am from Delta and my place is very close to Uwheru where this incident took place. For a long time now, I would say for more than 10 years now Fulani herdsmen have always caused problems in that place in their search for grazing land. The Uwheru people who are purely farmers have always clashed with them in their attempt to drive them away from their farms and this had always resulted in some casualties of the Uwheru people. The recent onslaught of the herdsmen did not come to me as a surprise because they are now taking advantage of the Federal Government not taking action on previous cases all over the country. We have not heard one day from the Federal Government that one Fulani herdsman has been arrested, his gun taken from him. Rather we have heard words of encouragements from those in authority. This time, the herdsmen, particularly after the flood which normally occupy the grazing land, will come with trailers filled with cattle and drop them with the people. Sometimes they remain there and prevent the people from going to their farms until when the flood is coming again before they move back. When I heard the governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa making a statement about the incident that took place in Uwheru, I was only shocked because he said that he learned that they did it with the assistance of some military men and investigation about that should take place. That was the only new thing that came to me because the issue of attack of the Uwheru people had been known to me for a long time. There is also a problem where the security officers, Soldiers and the Police in our area particularly in Delta are mostly from the North, so no action is being taken to prevent this onslaught on our people. As a result of this, the leaders of the South, Middle Belt, that is South West, South-South, South-East and the Middle Belt met over this issue particularly the killing of people in the Southern part of Nigeria. When we saw a report sent to us by the community, we felt very sad that this killing took place and the people had to be exhumed from shallow graves and I heard the Police say that they wanted to know who killed the people, who buried them and so on and I just smiled. Does it mean that the villagers or the communities killed their people, buried them in shallow graves to obtain what? Credibility of their allegations against the Fulani Herdsmen or what? We are all Nigerians and no one is more superior than the other; perhaps this is the reason many people in the country are now agreeing that we should have state police and we are waiting to see the next thing. We will be meeting with the governor of Delta State before we issue our statement on this frightening attack on our people in the South. We thought what is going on is mainly in the North and we all sympathize with it. So I think this matter has to be seriously looked into and we shall visit the matter again. During the last Christmas I was at home. One day, I received a delegation of 25 women from Ughelli South Local Council that they learned I was in town and as their leader they had come to complain to me and I asked them: 'What is happening?' They said they were getting very worried because their farms have been taken over by Fulani herdsmen and they cannot go to the farms for fear of being raped or killed; that I should appeal to the governor of Delta State and use my position of being in Abuja to see what could be done for them to go back to their INSECURITY: Highlights •Why all zones must adopt regional security outfit •Community policing not good enough •Buhari does not own Nigeria •It's South-South Govs meet on regional security outfit •All regions should copy South-West's Amotekun •How FG's inaction is fuelling herdsmen menace •Senators should be reduced to one per state •Size NASS, states assembly should be cut down farms. Similarly, my community women also reported that similar things were happening in their place that they have taken their bush called Ugborugbo and they cannot go to We appeal to every area to do what the South-West has done. Community policing is not enough which is being controlled from the centre like the normal police; so I think we have to resort to self defence as mentioned earlier by Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma. the farm. What type of country are we building? This is what is happening in the Niger Delta. I also saw in the papers, the Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom who is 103years old announcing that many of his people have been killed by these Fulani herdsmen. He mentioned the names of those killed, the villages that are suffering from these type of thing in his kingdom and he called on the government to come to their rescue. We have Amotekun in the South-West and other geopolitical zones are clamouring for theirs. What is your take? I was outside the country when I heard of Amotekun and I approved of it. I supported it. We the leaders of the South and the Middle Belt supported them and congratulated them for having the courage, the boldness and the wisdom to do what they did particularly when it is realized that only Oyo State is governed by a different party, the P e o p l e s Democratic Party, PDP, all the other five are All Progressives Congress, APC. So •Chief Clark one is very happy that leaders of our people can differentiate between what is political party and what is in the interest of their area and the country at large. So we appeal to every area to do what the South-West has done. Community policing is not enough which is being controlled from the centre like the normal police; so I think we have to resort to self defence as mentioned earlier by Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma. We are appealing particularly to my region, the South-South that the governors should meet and take similar decision, no one is going to keep quiet while his home is under siege, and his people are being killed and women are helpless. That is why we supported Amotekun. Even though there were some counter statements that were made, the people stood firm and I am happy that the law will soon be passed by the various Houses of Assembly in the South -West. Every region or state should adopt that because that is the only way to prevent the attacks on our people. They are not uniformed men, they are not state police, and all that they are doing is to complement the police which do not have enough men to go round. I was surprised the other day when it was reported to me that the governors of the South-East are dancing what I don’t know, they took a decision that they have also formed their own before Amotekun and they were not copying anybody, for them to turn round after holding meeting with the security men, they now said community policing is what they are doing; so what about the one they have put ahead before? Though I am very surprised, but I am happy to note that the entire people of the South-East will like what is going on in the South-West and I think the governors will listen to them to change their mind to do what they have said they have done before. The forest guard and so on and we all were proud that the governors of the South-East have now established their own defence force. I am saying that every region in Nigeria should have a similar thing like Amotekun, let it be uniform. The Senate has started yet another constitutional review. The Chairman of the 58-member Constitution Review and Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo- Agege promised that the report of the 2014 Confab would be revisited. As one of the 492 delegates to the Conference where more than 600 resolutions were reached, which areas do you think the Committee should pay serious attention to? Firstly, on behalf of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, I wish to congratulate the Senate for Constituting a Committee to review the Constitution. We pray that all members place the interest of Nigeria first, and not to play partisan politics and ethnicity in carrying out their deliberations. This is because the Report of the 8th Assembly was a disgrace, particularly when they voted against devolution of power. Having said that I will say that the first item the Constitution Review Committee should consider is that of Devolution of Power to the states. The present Constitution of Nigeria has no character of Federalism. It is a unitary form of Constitution. A situation whereby the Federal Government controls every aspect of Government including Primary and Secondary Schools, Agriculture, Health, Finance, etc. is untidy. And that is why people consider the President of Nigeria to be one of the most powerful in the world. Everything must get approval of the President/Centre. This is not what happens in the US where we copied from. The Constitution should contain only two tiers of government. Matters pertaining Local Government should be handled by the State, the Federal Government should off its hands. Local Government Councils should be created by State Governments in accordance to their requirement and as to their ability to finance them. There should be no joint account between the State and Local Governments. All monies should be paid to the State Governments, and the State Governments should set up State Revenue Mobilisation Commission which should be headed by a retired Judge. The Federal Government should have some of the following functions. (i) Foreign Policy including signing of Treaties. (ii) Defence (iii) National Assembly which should be streamed down or reduced to one Senator per State. The membership of the House of Representatives should also be reduced. (iiii) Tertiary education as they exist now where states are also free to establish their own Universities should be maintained. The present Constitution with about 79 powers exclusively reserved for the Federal Government makes it clumsy and authoritative and makes the State Governments to work like appendages of the Federal Government. The State Government should also reduce their membership of the State Houses of Assembly to make it cost effective and efficient in intelligence. Also the State Houses of Assembly should be independent of the State Executive. Local Governments should not be part of the Federal Constitution and should be a creation of the Region or State, which should finance them. To be concluded
Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020 — 45
- Page 1 and 2: Banks' lending rates defy crash in
- Page 3 and 4: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 5 and 6: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 7 and 8: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 9 and 10: STATE OF THE NATION Vanguard, FRIDA
- Page 11 and 12: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 13 and 14: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 15 and 16: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 17 and 18: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 19 and 20: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 21 and 22: FINANCIAL VANGUARD Vanguard, MONDAY
- Page 23 and 24: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 25 and 26: FINANCIAL VANGUARD The North has al
- Page 27 and 28: FINANCIAL VANGUARD A new policy on
- Page 29 and 30: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 31 and 32: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 33 and 34: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 35 and 36: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 37 and 38: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 39 and 40: :Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguard
- Page 41 and 42: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 43: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 47 and 48: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 49 and 50: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 51 and 52: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
- Page 53 and 54: Fury destroys Wilder in heavyweight
- Page 55 and 56: Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020